Chapter 4: Dotted Ink

Guest room in the back courtyard of the county office.

'Why did they bring me to the county office?'

Lv Fang felt anxious and uneasy. Thinking about it, he always felt something was wrong. Protection? The evil ghost had already been eliminated; what was there to protect?

Could it be that they saw he had written an elegant script and condensed a Book Spirit, so they invited him to the county office under a pretext, wanting to win him over?

At this moment, Lv Fang thought of marrying the county magistrate's daughter and reaching the pinnacle of life; actually, that wasn't impossible... Hahaha.

'I shouldn't be ugly now.'

Lv Fang got up and walked to the corner of the room, found a bronze mirror on top of the wooden cabinet, picked it up, and faced himself.

A thin, clean face appeared in the bronze mirror, with eyebrows that were black and long, with a tendency to lift at the ends, large and long eyes, a straight nose bridge, and thin, pale lips.

After Lv Fang "truly" saw his appearance, he finally understood what it meant to be handsome and dashing; with this appearance, he was definitely a beautiful man!

No wonder his predecessor believed the pretty beauty's words of admiration; just judging by his skin, he did indeed have the capital.

If placed in his previous life, he would at least be a top-tier young idol.

Dong, dong, dong!

A knock on the door sounded.

"Coming!"

Lv Fang combed his hair with his hand and straightened his robe before walking over to open the door.

Standing outside the door was a middle-aged man in his forties, about forty-five years old, with a handsome appearance and three wisps of beard, elegant and not lacking in majesty.

"County Magistrate Zhao, please come in!"

Lv Fang saw the man's appearance clearly, stepped aside, and made a gesture of invitation.

County Magistrate Zhao walked into the room with a smile, stroking his beard and nodding:

"I heard from Private Secretary Lu that you wrote an elegant script and condensed a Book Spirit. I hadn't heard of you before. Perhaps... you are the Lv Fang mentioned by those above."

Lv Fang furrowed his brows slightly and hesitated, "What does 'that Lv Fang' mentioned by the adults mean?"

Thinking about it carefully now, Private Secretary Lu had said earlier that all those named Lv Fang were to be taken to the county office for protection.

He had thought it was a slip of the tongue by Private Secretary Lu.

Now County Magistrate Zhao was saying, "the Lv Fang mentioned by those above."

There was a lot of information!

But Lv Fang couldn't figure it out.

In his memories, his predecessor had never left Po County in twenty springs and autumns; how could the people "above" know him?

Being brought to the county office wasn't about winning him over or recruiting him as a son-in-law; looking at it this way, there were still hidden secrets...

County Magistrate Zhao shook his head and didn't answer, taking out the paper densely covered with "Liaozhai Zhiyi: Nie Xiaoqian" from his sleeve.

"I just read the elegant script you wrote. I heard that your Book Spirit can slay ghosts; could it be the 'aforementioned' strange person Yan Chixia?"

Before coming here, County Magistrate Zhao had specifically asked about Lv Fang's life, which was said to be famously useless, without talent or virtue, a complete playboy.

He couldn't figure it out; how could such a person write an elegant script and condense a Book Spirit?

Looking through history, only by reading the elegant scripts of the classics of the three teachings could one condense a Book Spirit.

It was the first time he had seen with his own eyes that an idle, strange story written by oneself was recognized by the Heavenly Dao as an elegant script and had condensed a Book Spirit; it was truly rare and uncommon.

Lv Fang feigned excitement, "This was a foolish thought of the student, and I didn't expect to be able to write it down and condense a Book Spirit named Yan Chixia."

"It really is this Book Spirit." County Magistrate Zhao nodded and asked suspiciously, "The evil ghost was destroyed by the Book Spirit; I don't know what abilities it has?"

Lv Fang summoned Yan Chixia and said, "I will demonstrate a little for County Magistrate Zhao."

Yan Chixia complied, stretched out his palm, and the two-inch-long Fluorescent Moon Small Sword appeared out of thin air, spinning in his palm while shimmering with spiritual light.

Pointing his finger as a sword, he pointed into the air.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh" sounds of breaking through the air rang out.

The Fluorescent Moon Small Sword turned into a rainbow light, circling around Yan Chixia's body.

"Strange Gate Qimen Qimen Feijia!"

Lv Fang shouted. He roughly knew the function of the Strange Gate Qimen Qimen Feijia, but he hadn't tried it yet, and his heart was still very expectant.

He saw a golden light burst out from the Book Spirit Yan Chixia's body, and in the blink of an eye, it turned into golden, brilliant mysterious armor.

The mysterious armor attached itself to Lv Fang's body, like a divine soldier descending from heaven.

"This..."

County Magistrate Zhao's eyes widened. This was the first time he had seen the abilities of a Book Spirit, which were even more mind-boggling than he had imagined.

'This is the Strange Gate Qimen Qimen Feijia!'

This was Lv Fang's first time using the Strange Gate Qimen Qimen Feijia, and his heart was drumming a bit. He lifted his foot and took a step, feeling as light as the wind. The scene before his eyes flashed by rapidly, and he was already in the courtyard.

"Holy cow!"

Lv Fang saw that he was about to hit the screen wall in front, leaped up, and soared ten-plus zhang high. Glancing down with his peripheral vision, the architectural layout of the entire county office was in full view.

Half a cup of tea's time.

Lv Fang gradually adapted to the speed of the Strange Gate Qimen Qimen Feijia. Running at full speed, he actually turned into a yellow light, circling the county office several times before returning to the guest room.

"What a fast speed!"

County Magistrate Zhao was amazed, and at the same time, his eyes were full of envy, thinking to himself: 'Those who condense a Book Spirit are few and far between; it is reasonable for them to have some extraordinary strength.'

Lv Fang deactivated the Strange Gate Qimen Qimen Feijia, his face unable to hide his joy.

Based on the current realm and "momentum" of the Book Spirit Yan Chixia, as well as Lv Fang's physical strength and "momentum," he could maintain the Strange Gate Qimen Qimen Feijia for a quarter of an hour if he exerted his full strength. If he encountered danger again next time, it could be considered a means of saving his life.

"Momentum" was unclear and invisible, but it was real. The "momentum" emitted from a person would improve as their realm improved.

Using "momentum" to perceive others' realms, using momentum to suppress those of lower realms, there were ten thousand marvelous uses...

Whether it was the Strange Gate Qimen Qimen Feijia, driving the Fluorescent Moon Small Sword, or the Ten Thousand Swords Technique, they would all consume the physical strength and "momentum" of the Book Spirit Yan Chixia and Lv Fang in an average way.

County Magistrate Zhao clapped his hands in praise repeatedly, looked at Lv Fang, and said, "Tell me the whole story of how you encountered the evil ghost again, one by one."

Lv Fang didn't dare to hide anything and told the story of "meeting the pretty beauty at night."

He embellished a few places, highlighting that Lv Fang was only teaching the pretty beauty "knowledge," rather than coveting her beauty.

He had told Steward Chen and Private Secretary Lu the same thing earlier; perhaps most people wouldn't believe it, but Lv Fang insisted it was so.

Anyway, the evil ghost had been eliminated, and there was no ghost to confront.

County Magistrate Zhao listened with a smile that wasn't a smile: "So that's how it is."

A shrewd person like County Magistrate Zhao could easily figure out what was going on, but he didn't expose it, thinking it would be safer to report it this way.

Lv Fang hesitated and said truthfully, "That evil ghost also kept probing me, asking what treasures the Lv family had."

County Magistrate Zhao was surprised: "There are treasures in the manor?"

Lv Fang shook his head repeatedly: "The Lv family has been in business for generations; how could there be any treasures?"

County Magistrate Zhao nodded: "I am already aware of this matter; you should just stay here for now. I imagine the one driving the evil ghost is also too busy to care about anything else right now."

The evil ghost was not an accident; there was actually someone behind the scenes driving it.

Lv Fang was shocked and hurriedly said, "I still have a sister at home; why not bring her here as well, so as not to be implicated."

County Magistrate Zhao comforted him: "That won't be necessary; the evil ghost is coming for you. Rest assured, I didn't expect it would dare to harm people before, but now that I know, I naturally won't let the sinister thief succeed."

The night grew deeper.

The bright moon cast a large expanse of silver radiance.

Lv Fang sent County Magistrate Zhao away and pondered for a while. Feeling sleepy, he lay down on the bed and entered dreamland.

In a daze, he appeared in the Ink Brush Realm.

The ink sky and ink earth were pitch black, the giant brush standing between heaven and earth was motionless, and the books shimmering with spiritual light of various colors were frolicking.

The Book Spirit Yan Chixia was also there, bowing: "My Lord."

Lv Fang shook his head with a bitter smile: "No need to call me My Lord, just call me Young Master. This is the Ink Brush Realm; can I come here whenever I enter a dream?"

As soon as he asked the question, the giant brush above seemed to understand, pointed into the void, and a drop of seven-colored ink color descended from the sky and merged into the top of Lv Fang's head.

Instantly, he had a profound understanding of the Ink Brush Realm.

It turned out that he could enter the Ink Brush Realm at will, just by reciting it three times. Entering automatically when dreaming was because he could choose books again; if he didn't want to come in, he just needed to have the thought of "not wanting to enter" before going to sleep.

The books in the Ink Brush Realm were also divided by realm, based on the Great Zhou Dynasty's realms.

The realm of the books was based on the settings in the books, supplemented by the rewards and the extraordinary power in the books.

Books suitable for Lv Fang's realm were relatively easy to obtain; high-realm books could also be obtained, but the chance was very small.

As long as it was a book obtained from the Ink Brush Realm, writing it out would yield rewards, such as: Book Spirits, items, or cultivation techniques...

The first book, "Liaozhai Zhiyi: Nie Xiaoqian," had no threshold.

But if he wanted to obtain a second book, he needed to have a large number of people read it and produce "book fragrance energy" before it would be relatively easy to obtain a second book.

Book fragrance energy had many marvelous uses:

First: Consume it to replenish physical strength and mental energy; consuming a certain amount would improve one's cultivation realm, like a great tonic.

Second: Use it as bait to attract books within the Ink Brush Realm; with more book fragrance energy, it was easier to "get" books beyond his realm, and with less, the "dogs" wouldn't care.

Third:...

How to obtain books was like fishing; using an ink rod, ink line, and ink hook, he could cross the seven-colored ink horizontal stroke to "fish."

"Rod, come!"

Lv Fang tried shouting, and an ink-colored bamboo rod appeared in his hand immediately. It felt no different from a normal bamboo rod. With a light flick, the front end of the bamboo rod extended to above a certain book as he wished.

If he could obtain books of myths and legends, any Book Spirit from within would be an invincible existence; wouldn't he be able to walk sideways in the future?

"Give me a fierce book!"

Lv Fang squinted his eyes, wanting to see the name of the book clearly.

He looked until his eyes had double vision, but he couldn't penetrate the spiritual light of various colors to see the book's name. He rubbed his eyes, feeling very unhappy in his heart.

'I can't see the book's name! How do I choose? Books should have a nose and eyes, and it would be best if they could recite relevant information about the book; that would be a proper book.'

This complaint had just come out.

The giant brush standing between heaven and earth wielded itself freely, writing: Lv Fang, Master of the Ink Brush Realm, establishes forms and words for ten thousand books.

He saw those books duang, duang, duang... actually growing mouths, ears, noses, and limbs, becoming "book people" with different shapes.

One "person" one sentence related to the book...

For a time, the noise was one after another.

Noisy, chaotic, just like hawking in a vegetable market.

Lv Fang held his breath and concentrated on listening, wanting to hear clearly what the few book people closest to him were saying.

A tattooed book person with dragons and phoenixes: "Sister-in-law, please respect yourself."

"'Water Margin'?" Lv Fang was a bit confused.

A bearded book person: "Sister-in-law, please mount the horse."

"'Romance of the Three Kingdoms'?" Lv Fang scratched his head and put on a mask of pain; these book people were a bit much!

Couldn't they recite poetry?

Lv Fang looked expectantly at a book person riding the clouds and mist; this one looked very awesome.

The book person riding the clouds and mist: "Sister-in-law, open your mouth."

"'Journey to the West'?!"

Lv Fang hurriedly extended the ink hook tied to the ink line toward the top of that book person. If he could fish this book out and condense a Great Sage Sun...

However, the book person treated the ink hook above as nothing, flying back and forth riding the clouds and mist.

He tried fishing for many book people and found that any book with a very awesome realm basically didn't even look up at the ink hook.

Other book people did look up at the empty ink hook, but they didn't seem to want to be fished out.

Was it because there was no book fragrance energy to use as bait? ===== CHAPTER 5 =====